The U.S. Is Now the Only Country That Refuses to Participate in Paris Climate Accords

Syria has promised to join the Paris climate agreements, leaving the U.S. as the only country in the world refusing to be part of the deal.

The accords, which were struck in 2015, are a set of non-binding agreements that aim to slow the effects of climate change worldwide. One of the agreement's main goals was to prevent the world from warming by 2 degrees Celsius, and each country set goals based on their consumption of fossil fuels as well as their financial limitations.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced his decision to pull the country out of the deal in June, citing potential disadvantages for U.S. businesses. Dozens of companies, including Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, countered this claim and called for the U.S. to stay in.

Technically, the U.S. cannot pull out of the agreement until 2020, but the U.S. was not invited to the climate summit set to take place in Paris in December, according to the BBC.

At the time of Trump's announcement in June, the only other two countries who had refused to participate were Nicaragua and Syria. Representatives from Nicaragua said that they would join in October.